Forecast: 1 million new NG-fueled vehicles to hit global roads by 2019

Pike Research recently issued a forecast calling for the sale of nearly 1 million new natural gas-fueled trucks and buses on roads worldwide between 2012 and 2019.

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Pike
Research recently issued a forecast calling for the sale of
nearly 1 million (MM) new natural gas (NG)-fueled trucks and
buses on roads worldwide between 2012 and 2019.

Since
trucks and buses use significant amounts of fuel and tend to
emit high levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs), diesel- and
NG-fueled vehicles (NGVs) are increasingly attractive options
in these commercial markets.

Pike
Research's report analyzes the global market opportunity for
NGVs in the medium- and heavy-duty truck and bus
markets.

Researchers noted
that NG provides a financial benefit because, in most cases,
the higher incremental cost of a NGV is typically recovered,
due to lower fuel costs, within two to seven years.

NG trucks
typically run on compressed natural gas (CNG) because their
tanks weigh less and are less costly than those for liquefied
natural gas (LNG).

LNG
trucks, however, are increasingly used as longer-range vehicles
(400 miles or more, compared to 150300 miles for CNG
vehicles) and are seeing higher growth rates than CNG trucks
(17% vs. 14% in heavy-duty trucks).

The
worldwide breakdown of refueling stations for these two types
of NG is 117 LNG refueling stations vs. 20,233 CNG refueling
stations. Around 45% of the LNG refueling stations are located
in the US, even though China has the largest annual sales for
LNG fueled trucks, with 3,020 vehicles sold in 2012.

The consultancy expects sales of NG trucks and buses
to expand steadily over the remainder of the decade.
More than 930,000 of these vehicles will be sold worldwide in
the seven years to 2019, the study concludes.

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Are you sure of the remark that CNG tanks weigh less than LNG tanks? When you include the weight of stored fuel, the energy density per unit volume of LNG is about 3x CNG at 200 bar. And the CNG tanks (bullets) at this pressure are pretty heavy. The LNG tank is relativey thin-walled but does require insulation and maybe a vacuum jacket and is admittedly likely to cost more.

Carlos01.18.2013

In Argentina more than 1,4 million cars run everyday on CNG and all main highways have refueling stations enough to cross the country.